Comments on: Railwayed into a Rude Reality

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:02:34 +0000

Oh, gee, thanks for telling me this is but one more responsibility for the Federal Government. After the ‘purchase’ of banks & auto industry, (and maybe health care) maybe the Feds need to completely take over the public transit system.
I like Swedish hockey players, but not their nominal tax rates.
Agreed, Metro is flawed. Solution: significantly raise the rates, bank the money and fix the problems.
It’s indeed sad and tragic, but please look at the number of passenger miles compared to injuries/fatalities. When you do that, Metro is far safer than auto travel.

By: chelle

chelle — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:54:50 +0000

I’m a huge Caps fan, but I was concerned this morning when I read the exert from OFB posted on the Express Blog Log, as it almost seemed a bit heartless in regards to the victims and their families. I’m glad I came to read what you wrote in its full context. You made several valid points

By: OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:10:17 +0000

Metro’s fundamental problem was going on the cheap when the system was designed — by building only 2 sets of tracks rather than 3, they screwed themselves pretty hard. Any train problem causes massive delays; they have to pay OT rates for track maintenance during the wee hours rather than just using 2 of 3 tracks while the third is fixed; and the track lives are shortened by being in constant use rather than rotating one of three out of use now and then. Just a horrible decision that, at this point, cannot realistically be remedied. And don’t get me started on the escalators…
Sadly, over the years the administration of the system has become worse and worse, a dangerous combination of incompetence and corruption. So while I think the Federal Government should contribute much more toward Metro, they also need to rip up Metro’s bureaucracy and start over. Too bad they can’t also rip up the tracks and do those right too.

By: Grooven

Grooven — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:30:08 +0000

Such an incident is unfortunate, but might finally be the thing that gets the Feds, DC, MD and VA off their respective collectives asses, quit messing around, and actually put up necessary money to make these fixes that have been needed for years instead of squabbling about a million here and there. (And maybe it will be a call for WMATA to actually have oversight and do a much better job with the money it has.)

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:28:09 +0000

I live fewer than 6 blocks from 2 metro stops and I take a cab home from Verizon Center.

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:51:22 +0000

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By: MaryRWise

MaryRWise — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:58:42 +0000

This hits very close to home for me, because my husband was on the train that crashed last night. He was on his way to meet me for the Caps Select-A-Seat season ticketholder event. He wasn’t hurt, thank God, but only because he was in the last car of the striking train. We always sit in the last car; it lets you out at just the right spot at Gallery Place. I shiver when I think that he might have caught a slightly earlier train!